ARTISTS
Blacksmith from all around the world prove their ability in craftsmanship!
BLACKSMITH Eddie Payne may be retired but he has proved his mettle by continuing to pick up awards.
Mr Payne, of Alma Road, Aldbourne, has returned from the Royal Show at Warwick with a clutch of certificates and cups.
He won the overall championship in the blacksmith classes at the Royal, Britain's biggest agriculture and countryside event.
Over the years Mr Payne, 67, has picked up many awards for his work. Until his retirement two years ago he worked from a forge at Littlecote House where thousands of visitors, particularly in the years when Peter De Savary ran it as a theme park, saw him at work. He worked on large metal commissions especially wrought iron gates that grace many country houses.
The property entrepreneur even flew Mr Payne out to his holiday home in the Bahamas to install a set of gates he had made.
In the years leading up to his retirement Mr Payne began making smaller ornamental pieces, which he has continued to make and win awards with. The work he exhibited at the Royal Show included a peacock fire screen he made for his wife and steel figures of the grim reaper and of Robin Hood.
Wanna see some of his work? Take a look at the CanIron pics, including his monks-making demostration : CanIron IV pics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------Famous "This Old House" Magazine reveals Ilinoisan blacksmith as "secret source"!
The irony of being named as one of "This Old House" Magazine's 25 secret sources on hand-forged iron gates is that John Medwedeff hasn't made an iron gate in probably five years!
Nevertheless, the Illinoisan blacksmith is humbled by the recognition in the December 2005 issue of a magazine that boasts nearly one million subscribers.
"It's cool," Medwedeff said. "It's a nice little affirmation we're doing something right here."
The magazine likely contacted him after one of his friends and fellow blacksmiths, Tom Joyce from New Mexico, referred the author to him, Medwedeff said.
It was in September that he received the call from the magazine. He had just finished installing one of his sculptures at Carbondale Community High School and what followed was a paragraph in the December issue listing him as the 10th secret source when it came to hand-forged iron gates.
"What sets John Medwedeff's gates apart - not to mention his fire screens, tools, and other architectural metalwork “ is their unique, often whimsical style," the paragraph states.
Medwedeff has been a blacksmith, metalsmith and sculptor professionally for 25 years, but set up his studio in Murphysboro in 1988 and finally made the art form he studied in school his full-time profession. In the last 10 years, he has created sculptures, gates, chandeliers, railings and other pieces that grace everything from homes to cathedrals all over the country and in Europe.
When he started his business in 1981, he said, he had a rough time getting attention. Now, though, he has anywhere from three to five employees working for him at any given time. His stature has also grown to be included in "Architectural Digest," a couple of European magazines and several design books. For more info about him, go to: http://www.johnmedwedeff.com/
The Jersey Devil hits again! Uncovering lost diamonds from the junk.. and it works...
... at least for Matt White, the owner of Recycling the Past, an architectural salvage company based in Barnegat, New Jersey.
It all began while White was living in New Mexico. He started fashioning old window sashes, salvaged from a friend's barn, into mirrors. These antique creations sold well and helped convince Matt that he should start a business with his talents.
Shortly afterwards, Matt returned to New Jersey, and began buying and selling at craft shows. The money they made was used to purchase more items for resale. Six years later, Matt, along with father Steve and brother, Josh, buys wholesale salvage rights from companies contracted to tear down old or abandoned buildings. Items worth keeping are brought back to the shop in Barnegat for resale to the public.
One particularly memorable job was a century-old high school in Atlantic City. Several large, beautifully crafted terra-cotta lion heads were salvaged from the school. "They were hanging 85 feet up in the air," says White, "We had to take them down with a jackhammer in a cherry picker."
If you want to know more about Matt and his great work, take a look at their beautiful site: www.recyclingthepast.com! You're gonna love it!
Erica Gordon: Blacksmithing, Jevelry... and Fashion Artist! Meet her at Ironews.com!
Steel Toe Studios bring new life to used goods!
Erica Gordon is the founder and owner of Steel Toe Studios, a design and metalsmithing company in Seattle, Washington.
She personally designs and create some incredible handmade belt buckle of industrial strength and substance. Just look at the tools needed to create it: a gas forge, a swage block, forging hammers, a vice, a band saw, a small oxy-propane torch, pliers, pop riveter and
so on. "The buckle is made from steel that is domed while red hot, then the loop and prong are silver-soldered on and the holes are drilled," explains Erica."The two pieces are attached with pop rivets which are patinaed -- a chemical blackening process." Obviously "Rosie", that's how these beautiful belts have been named, won't make it through a metal detector without a fight!
"I paint and finish the piece to look as though it has been used in an industrial setting," says Gordon. The result is a solid flying saucer of colored, unshiny metal that looks like it was rescued from the wreckage of a long-forgotten contraption.
Already in love with this piece of art? You can have them too.. just take a look at "Rosie" - named after the WWII and feminist icon Rosie the Riveter - at www.steeltoestudios.com!
The Washington Post says "Men and Women of wrought iron are alive and well!!"
Worldwide renowed newspaper "The Washington Post" jumps on the bandwagon: "Blacksmiths are back!" says Robin Shulman in a great article!
"At 2,000 degrees, iron gives in to your will. You sweat. You calculate angles. Hit it skillfully and your hunk of metal can become a twisting arm of a chair or a curlicue on a railing or even a delicately wrought deer or a razor-sharp sword" and we at Ironews.com can only agree with this beautiful description!!
According to Washington Post, crafting iron is more popular now among Americans than at any time since the period between the two World Wars, with more and more people adding beautiful decoration and spectacular wrought iron gates to their houses.
And our "Convenient Catalog!", produced by Industria Italiana Arteferro, the greatest catalog ever made in the Wrought iron World, is your way to know how to enter this unexplored world!
You can see a great gallery of Ind.I.A. creations, including their locations, here!
Artist World: HEATH SATOW delivers spectacular Angel sculpure in Rome, Italy!
Heath Satow, famous worldwide blacksmith, has just delivered this incredible sculpture in beautiful Italy! Let's hear some words from the author:"Angel", a seven foot tall stainless steel sculpture was sold and shipped to a private collector in Rome, Italy. I'm sure she will enjoy her new home..."
Heath, a renowed artist with over twelve years experience working on projects ranging from large public sculptures to custom metal furniture, has achieved a wide scope of work with architects, designers, private clients and galleries. His proficiency with a variety of materials, techniques and styles has contributed to my reputation as a creative and reliable artist/craftsman.
For more informations about his great work, check out his website: www.publicsculpture.com!
CHRIS RAY RETROSPECTIVE
Christopher Ray (1937-2000), is remembered by many as a bright young Philadelphia sculptor who exploded on the art/sculptor scene in the early 1970's. Of particular note was his innovative "Mansect" series of sculptures which married man and insect into forms that were at first glance, whimsical, but always laced with a diabolical shadow. For a few brief years he enjoyed both financial success and public acclaim, but then he began to see his art from a complicated and less commercially successful perspective. First, he felt his pieces should be specifically arranged in a single location as they all represented an important segment of a much larger composite work and later he became reluctant to part from anything he made. And though his work remained absolutely brilliant to the very end, he spent long periods of time in poverty and deprivation, until his tragical death. For more info, visit the Abana Gallery dedicated to his masterpieces.
LEDDY: THE ONLY LIMIT IS IMAGINATION
Matthew Leddy is the Master Blacksmith. He tells us: "For thousands of years man has held a fire hot enough to work iron. Something has happened recently that has caused this knowledge to fade from sight and also tragically almost from memory. Fortunately this knowledge was saved from extinction not in books of history but in the minds of rural blacksmiths. These smiths had long been phased out in a world of mass produced supermall taste; left to there own devices, they eked out livings as hammersmiths in large industrial forges or sharpening plowshares for the local sympathetic farmers. Occasionally, a young person would happen upon such a master, ignoring convention of the day, and beg for his tutelage. This is how I came to learn my art. Studying under a master for three years until he claimed he could teach me no more, I then set out on a journey to learn all I could. Visiting as many forges as possible, big or small, I found a few others who could continue my education. The tools varied from small jeweler hammers to four ton steam hammers, surface plates to anvils, anything to quench my thirst. Finally It was time to build a forge of my own, a place to rest my hammer and create what has been described as magic. Leddy Iron has the capability to create any item the mind can. From wire to two feet in diameter and beyond (though most can not comprehend larger), it can be created. Metals can be molded, like clay, in any form twisted, bent, welded, drawn, upset.
The only limit is imagination.
Every month I will feature a new project in documentary form."
